Analysis of B cell repertoire specific to the neutralizing epitopes of glycoprotein 120 in HIV-infected individuals.

This study describes the clonotypic analysis of neutralizing anti-gp120 antibodies elicited in HIV-infected individuals by a panel of anti-idiotype monoclonal antibodies (anti-Id MAbs). Sera from 80 HIV-infected individuals at various clinical stages of HIV-infection were tested for reactivity to 19 anti-Id MAbs in ELISA. Anti-idiotype MAbs reacted with between 0 and 26% of sera. Among the 13 idiotypes specific for anti-CD4 site antibodies, 4 were expressed in 15 to 20% of individuals, whereas 2 of 4 idiotypes specific for anti-V3 antibodies were expressed in 15 to 26% of the cases. These data suggest that each HIV-infected individuals has a diverse B cell repertoire to a given neutralizing epitope cluster and that certain clonotypes are more prevalent than others. To correlate the binding activity in ELISA with anti-gp120 specificity, the idiotype-positive antibodies (Id+ Abs) from representative serum samples were isolated by anti-Id MAb-Sepharose affinity columns. In most cases, the epitope specificity and the neutralizing properties of the isolated Id+ Abs correlated with that of anti-gp120 antibodies used for the generation of anti-Id MAbs. We propose that these anti-Id MAbs may be used to identify and measure neutralizing anti-gp120 antibodies of defined specificity in the sera of HIV-infected individuals, HIV-vaccinated individuals, and in HIV-infected mother-infant pairs.